American Statesmen - Vol. 2

American Statesmen - Vol. 2

American Statesmen - Vol. 2

Excerpt

During the spring and summer of 1861 the people of the North presented the appearance of a great political unit. All alleged emphatically that the question was simply of the Union, and upon this issue no Northerner could safely differ from his neighbors. Only a few of the more crossgrained ones among the Abolitionists were contemptuously allowed to publish the selfishness of their morality, and to declare that they were content to see the establishment of a great slave empire, provided they themselves were free from the taint of connection with it. If any others let Southern proclivities lurk in the obscure recesses of their hearts they were too prudent to permit these perilous sentiments to appear except in the masquerade of dismal presagings. So in appearante the Northern men were united, and in fact were very nearly so -- for a short time.

This was a fortunate condition, which the President and all shrewd patriots took great pains to . . .